OK I have been searching for the last two months on this problem. Set up- I was driving one day and pulled over briefly. I get back to the car and get ready to go. It doesn't turn over very easy at first but starts. I thought that was weird and slowly pulled out of the parking lot and turned the corner. all of a sudden the coolant needle hits straight up and coolant light came on. I immediately pulled off and turned the car off. opened the hood and let it cool. no coolant spilling out nothing. I let it sit came back later and started it and everthing was ok and drove it a half a block to my garage. very worried about what had just happened. then I started diagnosing the problem. checked every thread about cooling I could find. I checked the coolant and was good added enough to top off, even used some coolant that gaurantees 40 degree lower temps. started it and came to the conclusion that my fans were not coming on and that probably had to do with what happened. I turned on the a/c to get the fans to come on and they did. put a high powered fan in front on the nose, hood up and I live in a very cool climate. started it. everything cool. warms up and comes up to temp. then after about five mins of idoling the temp gauge starts to slowly rise. note the buzzer never shuts off(another issue). I shut the car down before the needle gets to the white and well before that. no bubbles no gurgling and intake and pipes are all cool to the touch. I don't think the coolant seals are bad. none of the usual syptoms. going off the stock dummy temp gauge. defi on its way. I just tryed to analyze it the other day and found that I am getting no heat from the heater also. full blast 15 mins after start up. no heat. I have stock everything except dp. I also live outside of Denver Colorado and no shops for miles if any. I am not rotary mechanically inclined. I am however willing to learn as much as I can to fix this. so has anybody had any of these specific issues? my whole instrument cluster seems to be going haywire and I am thinking maybe I have a failed component in the cooling system. maybe the radiator isn't working anymore or something? and if it could be the gauge itself reading completely wrong. I plan to get the thermo replaced and ast too. if anyone can chime in and let me know what you think. thanks.
93 touring. 40,000 original miles.

 

Thermostat?

 

The first thing I would suspect with your symptoms is a stuck thermostat.

 

Replace your ast and thermostat and flush out your cooling system. And oh yeah......pray your coolant seals arent fried

 

And make SURE to get a Mazda thermostat. I have seen parts store thermostats fail in just a few months!

Dale

 

Probably a bad thermostat. Replace with a Mazda Factory unit. Don't get an aftermarket one, as the quality isn't as good.

Edit: I guess Dale types faster than me ............ Who doesn't??

 

you might want to try to open up the radiator cap and hold the throttle at wot to cut fuel and just crank the engine a few times. i have read that if you do this and you see the coolant shoot out of the fill area like a gyser, your coolant seals might be gone. BTW: is there any smoke comming out of your exhuast?

you might want to double check the thermostat by boiling it in some water and seeing if it opens enought at the right temp. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR THERMOSTAT ALL TOGETHER!!! IF YOU HAVE TO, JUST DRILL A FEW HOLES IN TO IT OR GUT IT BUT DO NOT REMOVE IT AND RUN WITHOUT IT.

another thing you might want to do is to take it to a radiator shop and have them vaccum test the coolant system as well as to try to bleed the system for you by sucking out all the air and fluid out of the system and then let only fluid back in.

BTW: have you had any previous problems and did you blead the coolant system correctly?

are you leaking any fluid? i had a really small pin hole leak in one of my hoses and it took me over a month to figure out that was what it was. there are quite a few hoses on our cars (about 7 or so I believe)

i would really not run the car again untill i get a water temp gauge. make sure to put it in a proper place to get a good/fast reading of the engine temp! if your temps hit over 230f, shut her off! if your coolant system is in good condition, i dont think it should ever go over 210f unless your tracking her or doing above 60mph while going up hills which are about 30degrees for more for over 2 miles. normal temps should be about 180f-200f

hmmm, you might also want to change your oil and check for coolant in there. you might also want to change and flush your coolant system very well and see if that might make a difference. also, what is your radiator fluid to water ratio?

no heat comming out of your heater would suggest that you might have an air pocket there, if you dont need it, you might want to just think about blocking it off, at least just for now.



P.S. radiator fluid is quite flammable, if any is leaking on to your exhuast system... you might have a fire. personnaly i had a leak before in my heater hose and it was shooting right on top of my turbo sheilding... talk about scary :0

 

This is terrible advice. First of all, you never want to hold your car at WOT in neutral. Second, if the car is warm, and the t-stat is open, of course the coolant will come gushing out when you rev the engine. The water pump will push it out of the engine, and it will go everywhere. This has NOTHING to do with bad seals.

The guys at a radiator shop will likely know nothing about this car. Do a search to find good info on removing air from your system. It isn't difficult.

Wrong. The FD cooling system is designed to heat up to over 220 degrees before the fans come on. This WILL happen if you are sitting in traffic at idle. If don't want this to happen, you will need to turn the fans on at a lower temp. A search will tell you many ways to do this.

None of that has anything to do with your problem. Replace your thermostat and let us know if that does the trick.

 

lack of heat suggests no pumped coolant, or stuck duct flap. if air pocket, would have to be at the w-pump.

burp a few times, redo idle test, see if heater hose gets hot as needle comes to normal. if not, shut down, and figure why wp aint pumping.

 

I want to have the thermastat replaced. do you think I can trust Mazda to do the thermostat if it is done by a certified rotary mechanic. I have no experience with these cars mechanically and have been learning as much as I can for about a year? should I try and replace the t-stat myself? is it fairly easy. I have limited options, unless I want to tow my car about 100 miles to the only shop that works on these cars. japanese guys they know more than me. no offense to anyone. they did my dp.

 

Most Mazda dealers do not have mechanics that know much about FDs. I suggest that you go to the dealer and find out if they have anyone that has "extensive" experience with an FD. A good question to ask the mechanic, is if he has owned one of these cars. Unless you are 100% confident about the mechanic, don't leave your car. Check your regional forum to see if there is anyone else in your area that can recommend a shop.

If you don't live near a good rotary shop, you are going to have to learn to work on your car. The first thing you should do is get a Mazda Factory Service manual. Start a thread in the 3rd gen parts forum. "WTB Factory Service Manual". It will be money well spent.

 

Changing the thermostat is a VERY easy job. Like takes 15 minutes with a ratchet and you're done. If you're not comfortable with doing it, pretty much ANY mechanic can do it - there's nothing RX-7 specific about it.

I don't think you even have to take anything off to do the job - just unbolt the thermostat housing, swap the thermostat out, and bolt it back on.

Dale

 

sonirx7, changing the thermostat makes a perfect start to the basics of working on an FD. give it ago

 

This is terrible advice. First of all, you never want to hold your car at WOT in neutral. Second, if the car is warm, and the t-stat is open, of course the coolant will come gushing out when you rev the engine. The water pump will push it out of the engine, and it will go everywhere. This has NOTHING to do with bad seals.


i should have mention to do this when the engine is cold and with the engine off, like when your first start up the car. the car should not start up, the starter should just spin the engine.




The guys at a radiator shop will likely know nothing about this car. Do a search to find good info on removing air from your system. It isn't difficult.

??? they can pressure test the system just like a normal car. our cooling system is just like any other




Wrong. The FD cooling system is designed to heat up to over 220 degrees before the fans come on. This WILL happen if you are sitting in traffic at idle. If don't want this to happen, you will need to turn the fans on at a lower temp. A search will tell you many ways to do this.


yes it does heat up past 220 before the fans come on but that does not mean it is good for your engine to go past 220 while just driving around. you can easily keep it under 210 with the fans on.




None of that has anything to do with your problem.

your kidding right?

 

Skunks, you should read your original post carefully. It's terrible. I read it several times. Maybe it doesn't say exactly what you were trying to get across.

 

makes sense to me

 

I took the battery out and found that my drivers side fan is not working. I also started to feel heat through the floor vents. I tried to turn the motor of the drivers side fan with my hand and it doesn't want to turn by itself it feels like it is rubbing pretty hard against the radiator fins. could this be causing my problems with the temp. sitting in a garage warming up, only one fan on. I have not attempted to drive it. would getting cool air by driving help to regulated my temps? or don't drive until I replace fans? does anyone know why this would have happened with the fan and radiator? thanks to anyone who can help.